Still Corners - Big Little Lions - Palmaria - Ellyn Woods - Mike Etten - Jillette Johnson

Still Corners - Heavy Days.

After delivering their highly-praised album ‘The Last Exit’ in January this year with standout reviews in NME, DIY, Uncut, The Quietus, Mojo and many more, Still Corners return with the energetic ‘Heavy Days’, along with news of a big US tour and re-scheduled European tour dates.

‘Heavy Days’ continues the band’s journey through the atmospheric side of indie-rock. With rich and soaring guitars layered effortlessly against singer Tessa Murray’s compelling vocals, Heavy Days gallops forth, riding the edge of rock-n-roll and expansive desert-noir twang.

Speaking about the new song, Tessa said, "Sometimes it all can all feel a little overwhelming, there's a lot to take in reading the news all the time. We wanted to write a reminder to put the phone down now and again, get out there and live life to the fullest while you can.”

Still Corners will be heading off on tour in 2022 throughout the US and Europe to support their recent releases.

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Big Little Lions - Didn't I.

Big Little Lions continue their monthly releases with 'Didn't I' which is out Thursday, September 16th. 'Didn't I' is about the regret you might face if you've lived your life taking no chances and sticking to the rules of how you think life should go, therby missing out on the magic that happens in the accidents and unknown.

 Big Little Lions have been described as ‘a blissful marriage of new folk and sophisticated pop’. Prolific songwriting, infectious folk-pop style, and an offbeat, memorable live show. 

This award winning duo consists of Helen Austin and Paul Otten who, despite living thousands of miles apart, have found a way to connect and create music together. Despite being in two different countries, they have found common ground to share their message.

BigLittleLions · Didn't I

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Palmaria - Ocean (Live Session).

Palmaria are an Alt-Pop duo from a small town in Italy, currently residing in London. Members Giulia and Francesco have been making a name for their distinctive sound, poetically transporting listeners on a journey of dreamy landscapes and uplifting experiences. Think The xx meets Sylvan Esso, meets Little Dragon on a field trip to the Italian coast.

Their latest single “Ocean” is off of their upcoming EP, Crystallize. Co-written and produced with B-CROMA (Yendry, Fia Moon), the single stays true to their sound of delicate, hypnotizing vocals with a mix of organic sounds and utopian guitars. Taking sonic inspiration from the drums on James Blakes’ “You’re Too Precious”, the duo re-interpreted the sound through Francesco’s classical guitar.

The song is inspired by the legend of Colapesce, the magical story of a man that sacrifices his life on earth, turning into a fish to save his island, but also highlights the problem of the pollution of the ocean. “Ocean” is a call for help. The duo confides, “We wanted to give voice to our frustration; it’s been hurtful to see what is happening, especially growing up in a town almost surrounded by the sea. The ocean has always been such an important element in our lives, inspiring and healing us every time we were in need, so it’s now our turn, we have to protect it.”

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Ellyn Woods - Tangerine.

Ellyn Woods is a multi-disciplinary artist currently based in Montréal. In addition to being a singer and songwriter, Ellyn has a degree in Fine Arts from Concordia and a passion for illustration and tattooing. Her art and music are a direct reflection of her love for nature and all things organic.

Ellyn received her first electric guitar when she was 12. She began learning her favorite songs by artists like Feist and Angus & Julia Stone, building her familiarity with the instrument and developing her own song-writing skills.
At age 18, she moved to Toronto. Immersing herself in the city’s diverse music and art scenes, Ellyn began sharing her original material and honing her craft as a performer and artist. Her raw and vulnerable material connected with audiences and fellow artists alike. Her ability to effortlessly weave her personal experiences into her music, combined with her soft voice and songwriting instincts, lead to several collaborative projects and showcases.

In 2015, Ellyn began receiving widespread attention and acclaim for her collaborations with Montréal electronic duo Sterling Grove. The artists released three singles – “Sound of Home,” “La Vigie,” & “In the Backyard” – which have generated nearly 2 million streams. In 2019, Ellyn and Sterling Grove travelled to northern Québec to record an album. Their efforts yielded Cabin Days, a collaborative EP released June 25, 2021.

In addition to Cabin Days, Ellyn plans to release her debut solo album, All At Once, on August 13, 2021. The LP follows its lead single “Tangerine,” which gained airplay on Sportsnet’s live broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals, CBC’s q with Tom Power, and several official Spotify playlists. Teaming up with producer/songwriter Kyle MacDougall, Ellyn weaves a colorful sonic landscape, incorporating a vast array of genres including electronic dance, indie pop, alternative rock, and R&B. Ellyn explores the complexities of love and spirituality overtop MacDougall’s brimming beats, yielding a fresh soundtrack for all your summer activities. Fans of Jungle, Men I Trust, The xx, and The Marias are sure to gravitate towards the breezy stylings of Ellyn Woods, as she effortlessly channels multiple genres and palettes all at once.

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Mike Etten - Saints.

Mike Etten is a songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. One of the founders of the Brooklyn DIY venue and collective Le Wallet, Etten recorded and played in various experimental, chamber, punk and country projects throughout the last decade, including PC Worship, Ashcan Orchestra and Dougie Poole. 

Amidst extensive touring and performing, Etten started writing his long-awaited solo debut, Love Wash, a twisted slice of fringe Americana, composed of carefully crafted and self-recorded song experiments that are equally catchy and off-kilter.

Some words directly from Mike himself: "Saints was written early one morning in a bit of a blur, strumming a chord progression in 3/4 time and singing a melody and words that wrote themselves pretty quickly. I built up the arrangement around the guitar and vocal, first adding drums and then synths that play a weaving counter line. Francesca Caruso added a vocal harmony and Adam Markiewicz (LEYA) layered a violin part based on a melody I sang to him, recorded at his home studio in Ridgewood. The bridge goes into a more ecstatic heavy waltz, it comes back around for a final verse, and feels like by the end of this one I’ve communed a little with myself, people from my past, and maybe a spirit or two from some other life."

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Jillette Johnson - Daddy Dopamine.

Jillette Johnson released a new single “Daddy Dopamine” as she embarks on her first national tour in support of her critically acclaimed new album It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You. The song was co-written and produced by Joe Pisapia, who produced her last album, and marks the first time Jillette has released a collaborative single. The tour with Houndmouth kicks off tomorrow in Oxford, MS and will make stops in Boston, MA, Washington, DC, and more. Find a full list of tour dates below or at her website.

“I wanted to create a spacious sonic landscape where my voice could just be, without having to really ‘perform,’” explains Johnson. It’s about the hamster wheel of dopamine addiction. We all chase highs to fill voids and soothe ourselves to make up for what we’re really after, which is human connection.”

“Speaking of connection, I’m so excited to be putting this song out right as my band and I hit the road with Houndmouth, who I happen to be a big nerdy fan of. I put my third album out in February, and it was such a weird feeling to not be able to play those songs in front of people. Making records to me is all about communication, and I can’t wait to give this body of work the opportunity to be more of a conversation than just a statement. Also, Houndmouth rules, and I’m honored to open for them. Gonna be a blast.”

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Natalie Jane Hill - Kate Ellis - Mike Etten - Ruth Lyon - Vera Ellen - Parliamo

Natalie Jane Hill - Orb Weaver.

“Orb Weaver” is a song about comparing myself to the hidden intricacies that I might find on a walk in the woods. I attach most of my memories to what is visually around during a certain time. Sometimes there is a comfort to the natural world and other times there is a harshness. My experiences can almost mirror them. I’d like to think that nature has a way of telling us exactly what we need to hear.

Taken from the forthcoming "Solely”, the sophomore effort by folk guitarist/singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill, it is a record of transition. While the Central Texas native’s stunning debut “Azalea” grew from years spent developing a textural narrative voice and idiosyncratic guitar style in the vibrant Blue Ridge Mountains, “Solely” represents a period of inward growth, and an outward push into an expanded sonic palette.

Following a move back to the Austin area in the fall of 2019, just months ahead of the pandemic, Natalie began an intensive period of reflection, and expanded her song-craft’s foundations from the broader themes of nature into the vulnerable intricacies of self-discovery. Along with this process came an openness to external creative input.

Recorded between October 2020-March 2021 to Tascam 8 track in the Lockhart Texas home of producer Jason Chronis (Voxtrot, Tele Novella), these recordings represent Hill’s first incorporation of other musicians into her arrangements, featuring performances by Mat Davidson (Twain) among several other trusted friends. There is a liberating and careful grace in these collaborations, providing strength and color to the upper branches of each song while preserving space for the health of the roots.

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Kate Ellis – Bluebirds And Rye.

US artist Kate Ellis Bluebirds & Rye released on Friday! This is the second single from her impressive sophomore album ‘Spirals’ due out in early 2022; a collection of songs that came out of a process of soul searching "to quiet the thought storms in my head and find my balance in the world," says Kate.

‘Bluebirds And Rye' follows the critically acclaimed and widely playlisted first single Another Way. Also produced by John Reynolds (Sinead O'Connor, Indigo Girls, Damien Dempsey), it is a sweet, poignant and uplifting folk song about a mother’s loving words of advice for her young daughter. In Kate’s words: "I wrote this for my daughter who, like me, is an emotional girl. 

This is my letter to her telling her I know what she’s going through, and it can feel hard, but everything’s going to be fine in the end. The song is about recognising the patterns in myself that I can see getting passed on, and the pitfalls of certain emotional pathways that I know from experience you want to avoid. I wanted to tell her: just take a breath and find a moment of rest. All there is is love and peace, everything else is in your head. This is what's important so don’t worry about the other stuff; it’s all going to be ok."

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Mike Etten - Drive.

The newest Dull Tools release is the first solo venture from Mike Etten, who you may know from his contributions to PC Worship & to Dougie Poole's recent LPs. Love Wash lands somewhere in between those two projects stylistically, it's a brooding psych-folk LP filled with unconventional arrangement touches, as demonstrated by the rubato swirl of saxophone, synth and acoustic guitar that kicks things off.

Drive was inspired by a late night trip down a country back road, touching dark memories of that ride and wrong turns made in the past. The tune starts with a simple guitar figure that unfolds and winds its way through changes, with a mix of percussion and drum machines bouncing around it. It felt like it lent itself to pedal steel, so I asked Tristan Shepherd (Dougie Poole band) to put down some tremolo-y tracks and a wild fuzzed out solo in the middle that really gave this one its character. 

I improvised a lead synth track that I really like too, it has that first-take spontaneity which I tried to capture whenever I could through the whole recording process. Drive feels full of confusion and hope at the same time, with me trying to move towards a more peaceful station, a more loving vision, and accepting that chaos can always be around the next corner.

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Ruth Lyon - Lemon Tree.

Ruth Lyon is a singer-songwriter of intense honesty and an impulse to say it how it is. Making a unique brand of ‘baroque-pop’ she bares her soul with courage and conviction - full of stark self-reflection but also a knowing nod to the absurdity of life. She returns to drop her latest single “Lemon Tree” on August 25th, in anticipation of her debut EP “Nothing’s Perfect” expected October 22nd.

In 2019 Ruth released her first single “I’d Give It All” (under the name Ruth Patterson) which received support from 6 Music, Radio X and Spotify editorial. In 2020 Ruth cemented herself as one of the North East’s most important voices, when Sage Gateshead named her Artist-in-Residence. Over the course of the year, despite being thrown into turmoil by the pandemic, Ruth released two more singles, the evocative “Sink or Swim” and “Somebody Else”, for which she received the PRS Woman Make Music award and was named as BBC Intro one to watch in 2021.

Ruth is now taking on her mother’s maiden name, Lyon, as she launches the next chapter of her career.  Co-producing with Rhiannon Mair (Laura Marling, LUNA) and Cameron Craig (Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua) Ruth explores her different identities - from the louche rock star, to the bittersweet poet, looking for love and a place in the world. Classically trained but with an eye for the catchy chorus and bright, pop melodies, Ruth sweeps from self-questioning piano ballads and lush string arrangements, to hands-in-the-air indie bangers. With the raw energy of a young disabled person who has constantly had to adapt to life’s twists and turns, her introspective and sometimes droll twist on storytelling brings up questions you never knew you should be asking.

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Vera Ellen - Crack The Whip.

Introducing Vera Ellen’s third single ‘Crack the Whip’. Vera wrote most of this song when she came back to New Zealand from LA at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was feeling a bit of whiplash from moving countries. I was reflecting a lot on the motions of life,  the wheel of fortune and coming to accept that our efforts to control anything are charmingly futile.”

Lyrically, it's a mash up of different points of Vera feeling homesick for New Zealand; when she was missing the nature and culture and people. “I used to work at this pop up called "Wonderworld" on Hollywood Boulevard. No one would ever come in so I would just stand at the counter and look out the window wondering why the hell I came here.”

The accompanying video is made up from home video footage from Wellington Zoo in 1997, and features Vera Ellen, her brother Albert River (who features heavily on the upcoming album, and is also in Vera’s live band), and their Nana. These images are intercut with footage of familiar sights from Vera’s current LA residence; Hollywood and Santa Monica beach.

“My brother and I are very close and we have always had this way of protecting each other. The video kind of turned into a homage to our bond and the deep sadness of being apart.“

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Parliamo - She's Only Human.

Perth, Scotland based 6-piece Parliamo (pronounced Par-Lee-Ammo) today release new single "She's Only Human",  lifted from upcoming EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto', out October 7th via Modern Sky (The Coral, The Lathums, Abbie Ozard).

A bracing indie-rock jammer addressing the fragility of mental health, speaking on the release of the new single, the band said: "She’s Only Human is a testament to confusion in confusing times. It discusses the limitations that those with poor mental health can face when it comes to relationships with others and oneself, and ultimately conveys that it’s okay not to be okay."

The band's upcoming debut EP 'The Parliamo Manifesto' is the culmination of over a year's songwriting and is a bold statement of intent from the 6 piece. Employing a charming tongue-in-cheek approach to some of the slightly darker aspects of life which young people face today, the record touches on the complications of religious pressure on "Catholic Guilt", spiralling addiction on "Who Needs a Reason?", mental health on new single "She’s Only Human" and the awkward beauty of young love on lead single "Paul & Barry".

The baggy, swaggering sound of the band and the often darkly humorous nature of the lyrics, stands in stark contrast with some of the subject matter, echoing the band’s propensity for laughing in lieu of crying. In a world of such turmoil and uncertainty, with ‘The Parliamo Manifesto’ the band are aiming to reconcile people with positivity through vibrant, energetic music, whilst providing a relatable commentary on the modern world and the inner workings of the minds of young people.

Written and delivered in the Scottish vernacular, the record offers a somewhat unique perspective on the simultaneously charming and terrifying nature of modern life.

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